


Into the Vortex

by UberDuper



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Spoilers, basically Max dealing with the party so soon after all the shit that just happened, sort of an introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-20
Updated: 2015-09-20
Packaged: 2018-04-22 12:20:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4835105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UberDuper/pseuds/UberDuper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Max finally arrives at the End of the World party. Her stomach doesn't enjoy it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Into the Vortex

**Author's Note:**

> Episode 4 is fucking me up, man. I had to stop and write this because the whole 'party' atmosphere kinda freaked me out. I dunno, maybe it was everything that happened before, but that party gave me some serous chills. So I wrote this up as way to chill out a bit before returning to the game, so apologies if it's not that good.

Max cringed the moment she stepped into the lair that was the Vortex Club's 'End of the World' party. She found it disgusting. It was unnatural, strange, surreal. Especially after what had happened at the barn and the junkyard. And only a couple days after the incident with Kate Marsh, no less. She could feel the stinging sensation of bile rising in the back of her throat at the thought of it. Poor Rachel Amber... But now was not the time for dwelling on these thoughts. She had to focus, to find Nathan Prescott before Chloe did.

The music washed over her in a strange way. It seemed like... regular party music. But for some reason, the pulsing beat and muffled lyrics sent tingles of anticipation down her spine. The music and the red lights and the way they mixed with the party sounds... it was making her head spin. She felt like she was going to throw up. The party coupled with the dark atmosphere was making her sick. Literally.

“Max?” The photographer's head turned to the side, finding Stella there, attending some sort of 'holdings area' and looking at her in concern. “I'm surprised to see you here. You don't seem like much of the party type.”

“Stella...” Max wiped a few beads of sweat off of her forehead. If she wasn't careful, she really was going to hurl. Her stomach did flips in agreement. “Um... h-hey...”

“Hey, you alright there?” Stella's voice raised in volume. It helped Max hear what she was saying, which was what she assumed the intended purpose was. “You look... sick. Maybe you should head back to the dorms and take a nap or somethin'.”

“No... no I'm fine.” Max shook her head, a tiny lock of hair sticking to her forehead. Here came the sweats... “I'm just... really preoccupied.” Stella looked unconvinced, but Max continued on. “Hey uh... have you seen Nathan tonight?”

“Hmm...” Stella pursed her lips, tapping her chin. After a moment, she shook her head, prompting a quiet swear from Max. “Nope. Looks like you're pretty intent on finding him.” She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at Max. “You sure everything's alright?”

“Yeah... yeah.” Max did her best to nod.

“Well... alright then...” Stella continued to look skeptical. “Hey uh... I'll text you if I see him, cool?”

“Cool.” Max repeated, nodding graciously. “Do me a favor though.” At that, Stella cocked an eyebrow. “If you do see him... stay away from him.” Stella only laughed.

“Trust me, Max. You'd have to _pay_ me to get close to Nathan Prescott on a night like this one. Stay safe.”

“That's the plan...” Max muttered, giving Stella limp-wristed wave before pushing through the curtain to the main event, so to speak. It was even worse on the other side of the curtain. The photographer's eyes slowly wandered the pool area. It was strange to think that this was the same place she and Chloe had broken into the night before, swimming in their underwear and talking about god knows what. The thought brought a smile to her face for a fraction of a second before her mission returned to her mind.

Still, the party was more than a simple distraction. Max found herself wandering for a moment, stopping to stare up at the twin moons through one of the pool's thin windows. Her camera was suddenly in her hands, raised up to her face so she could line up a shot of the mystical occurrence. With a click and a whirr, the polaroid was in her hand, displaying the shot she had just taken. It was a good one. She turned around.

The music returned to her consciousness full force. Heck, she could feel the _push_ it held as she walked by one of the speakers, the noise ruffling her sweaty hair. There were people dancing and horsing around. One kid leaped from the diving board, cannon balling into the pool and splashing everybody in a five foot radius. Including her.

Now she was really going to be sick. She was wet, disturbed by this freaky atmosphere and what she had seen not an hour ago, and heck, even sickened by the smell of alcohol – and _something_ else - in the air. Her hands moved to her stomach, pressing lightly against the restless organ. She couldn't afford to get distracted here. She had to find Nathan Prescott. She had to-

“Max? Hey, Max!” A voice called out to her, causing her eyes to flick upwards. There stood Daniel, waving her over, and Brooke, who was fiddling around with something or other on her phone. Max shut her eyes for a moment to try and clear out all of her thoughts. This was _so_ fucked up, in more ways than one. Still... she needed info on Nathan's whereabouts. Plus, it would be rude to Daniel to just blow him off when she _had_ been the one to convince him to come. So she began to head over to the pair. But she had to remember what the goal of this entire fiasco was:

To find Nathan Prescott and make sure he could never do something like this again...

Right?


End file.
